The ‪#‎7DaysOfGratitudeChallenge‬is an internet-based “movement” that encourages us to take a moment each day for 7 days to identify and write 3 things we are grateful for.

I am most grateful for the family I was blessed to be born into, the extremely dedicated and deliberate upbringing process that was the optimal combination of firmness and fairness, the challenges and mental conditioning I was fortunate to have gone through – some of which I was intentionally exposed to, some of which were simply a rite of passage through the corridors of life, all of which have culminated into the all-round well-balanced person I have become: an asset to my parents, an asset to my husband, an asset to my children, an asset to a lot of individuals across the globe, and a liability to only a handful – if any, he he.

I am grateful for good health: mine, my husband’s, my children’s, my parents’, my in-laws’, my extended family’s. It’s quite easy to forget about the wonderful design of the machine we carry around everyday – our body, until a component starts to complain and requires attention. I am grateful that those component-complaints are few and far in between for us, and none of us has any condition that is beyond our ability to handle.

I am utterly grateful to have met, become friends with, remained friends with, got married to, become parents with, and continue to be friends with one of the most decent and few truly good men – my best friend, Mr. B. Our journey started in our teens, and as we have each evolved as we have grown in life experiences and wisdom, I am most grateful that each evolved self has remained special and true to the other.

I am sure we have all been in situations with our significant others where, five minutes into an argument, we struggle to identify the source of our disagreement! I read the book “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” some years back, and it was a major eye-opener to learn that the brains of men and women are wired fundamentally differently, and these differences in wiring translate into differences in the way we think, the way we listen, the way we speak, the way we analyse, and the way we respond.

I came across this video on The Read String: a 14-minute snippet in which Mark Gungor describes, in a humorous and very-easy-to-understand delivery, how indeed the male and female brains are wired and the differences therein. It is a must-watch for every one who is – or intends to be – in a lifetime marital relationship with a member of the opposite gender.

In fact, I would highly recommend the full 73-minute video, taken at one of Mark Gungor’s Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage seminars, for more tips on how husbands and wives can communicate more effectively and minimise using up precious emotional energy quarreling over issues of the brain that have been mistaken for issues of the heart :-).

So, having watched this video(s), have any light bulbs gone off about previous interactions with your spouse? Do you think it will help improve your relationship with your spouse going forward?